Dwarf citrus

What
do you do if you want to grow as much of your own food as possible but
you love oranges? If you live in the Deep South, of course, you
can plant oranges, lemons, and grapefruits in your yard and laugh at us
northerners. Even in zone 8, citrus grafted onto particularly
cold hardy rootstocks (usually trifoliate orange) can survive outdoors
with a little care. Here in zone 6, though, our only outdoors
choice is to plant trifoliate orange with nothing grafted onto it, and the
fruits just aren't worth it.

Luckily, there is
another way to grow your own citrus even in cold
climates --- dwarf trees in pots that live inside over the
winter. Dwarf citrus trees stay just small enough that you can
manhandle them inside for the winter, then you enjoy their color,
scent, and fruits in a sunny window until spring. The trees
are naturally somewhat cold hardy, so you don't end up losing
your plants when you leave the door open for an hour on a winter day
the way we did with our dwarf
bananas.

The rest of this week's
lunchtime series will explain the biology and
care of dwarf citrus trees. Be careful, though --- once you read
about them, you'll want your own. And it's hard to stop with just
one.

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Ooooo, thank you for doing an entire lunchtime series on dwarf citrus. I have a feeling I'll be bookmarking a lot of these to come back to as I start making decisions about purchasing dwarf citrus trees for our home!

I really have no idea what zone I am in here. We get the first frost around Dec. 1, and last at the equinox. The coldest night of the year is usually around -6C... But to me it is paradise! I have cherry trees in the same orchard as my satsumas!

I know most people are interested in lemons, limes, and oranges, but there are dozens of different citrus out there that will grow good fruit pretty far north.

Maybe the most famous is Yuzu.
Yuzu is hardy to -9C (15F) and has many uses. The thorny tree for a hedge, and the intense aroma for aromatherapy. It tastes a lot like grapefruit (the old fashioned sour ones, not the super sweet ones you see today). The rind is thick and can be used for zest.

I use my three sour citrus (kabosu, sudachi, and yuzu) in place of lemons and limes in any recipe. It may not be a lime margarita, but sudachi margarita is pretty good too (and most of my friends didn't know the difference!)

If you can grow trifoliates, you can probably grow these outdoors (If you can find them).

Anna can you email me about where you suggest getting a dwarf citrus tree? I think I'd like to get one started in the house over winter and put it out this spring if you think that's a good idea. I know I could Google it, but thought maybe you have some favorite places already.

Debbi --- It sounds like you're an expert with two types of dwarf citrus already! I hope I can tell you something you don't already know.

Ikwig --- I hope the posts help! The very short summary of the whole series is that you absolutely can't go wrong with dwarf Meyer lemons....

Eric --- I didn't realize you were so warm over there! If your coldest temperature is really only 21 Fahrenheit, that means you're in the equivalent of our zone 9 or so. Down there (Florida for us), you can grow just about any citrus you want....

Unfortunately, hardy to 15 degrees Fahrenheit isn't going to cut it around here. The USDA zone map divides areas up by the average annual minimum temperature, and for our zone, that's between -5 and 0 Fahrenheit. To make sure you won't drop below 15, you'd need to go to zone 8b, which is the part of the US where people start planting the more hardy citrus in the ground.

Everett --- I'll drop you an email, but I haven't really decided on the best nursery yet. I've actually gotten dwarf citrus from three places --- ebay, Springhill Nursery, and ???, and all have been about on a par. My neighbor got his tree from Lowes. The trick seems to be choosing the best variety --- the plants I've been unhappy with have been experimental varieties, but all of the dwarf Meyer lemons we've gotten have been awesome.